PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A mother is thanking a good Samaritan for jumping into a lake to rescue her and her daughter after a crash.
Jamie Pittman and her 2-year-old daughter Amberly were on their way home from a doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon when a blown tire turned their lives upside down.
Pittman's car flipped off Nebo Road in Paulding County into a lake.
“It just started flipping, and flipping, and flipping. Into the lake it went,” Pittman said.
The SUV went over the guardrail and ended up in a swampy section of Lake Ramona. Jamie managed to break out a backseat window, but she wasn't strong enough to lift her daughter out of the partially submerged truck.
"All I remember saying was, 'Oh God, oh God, oh God. Please help!'" she said.
That’s when help arrived out of nowhere. Jamie says a rescuer jumped in to help.
"He jumped over the guardrail. Literally clear onto the top of the car,” she said.
The man pulled out Amberly and Jamie and handed them up to others who stopped to help.
“I don't know who he was, but he was my guardian angel that day,” she said.
Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen tracked down that man. Henry Lanzo was driving down the road when he saw the crash in front of him.
“I didn't even hesitate. I didn't think about it. It was an automatic reaction to go after that child,” he said.
Lanzo says he did what anyone else would have done.
“God had his hand on them people,” Lanzo said.
“She considers you her guardian angel,” Petersen told Lanzo.
“Does she? I didn't know that. That's pretty flattering. That's awesome,” Lanzo responded.
Pittman says she feels blessed that they are both OK.
“Thank you for helping to save me and my daughter's life. I really appreciate it. It shows there are still good people out here in this world,” she said.